Devices such as pulsed radars are traditionally used for a variety of range and direction sensing applications including target detection and tracking, surveillance, weather monitoring, actuator positioning, and other applications. In known applications where pulsed radars are utilized, radar functions and communications functions are performed by separate transmitting and receiving devices. While radars and communications equipment incorporate transmitting and receiving devices, they are typically operated in separate frequency bands, each including separate antenna systems.
A pulsed radar typically has a small transmit duty cycle. In certain applications, the duty cycle of the pulsed radar is small so that the radar function is mostly off and the transmitter is idle, thereby allowing potential use for other communications functions during this idle time. The off-state of the radar function produces a window of opportunity for the radar to be used for different functions. For example, communication data can be encoded on the same pulse signal as the radar function during the off-state with a potentially tolerable level of co-existence. The two states utilize the same equipment but operate in separate divisions (for example, time, frequency, or code). To date, attempts in matching the two states to co-exist as a data link between at least two devices adds significant latency to a communication cycle.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for improvements in communicating using pulsed radar signal data links.